The Backup Plan
by Evertide
Summary: They say humans can't harm souls. They're very wrong. Humans just do it differently. This is how I like to think the end of Chara's life went. Canon compliant in that, while nothing in-game states that this happened, it doesn't contradict anything in the game either.


**Something to address up front**  
This was originally written in a choose your own adventure format, but since that isn't allowed here, I picked a story route I liked and made it into this story. If you want to read the story how it was meant to be read, you can find it on my deviantART page (I'm Evertide on there, too).

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The Backup Plan  
They say humans can't harm souls. They're very wrong. Humans just do it differently. This is how I like to think the end of Chara's life went. Canon compliant in that, while nothing in-game states that this happened, it doesn't contradict anything in the game either.

I had an idea for an Undertale story I really wanted to do. But the problem was Chara. I knew what I wanted him to do in the story, but it was hard to commit to anything because I don't have a very firm picture of what Chara's like in my head. Which makes everyone's theories so much fun to read about.

One day, I had what I hope was the perfect answer: Do all my ideas, but give the readers some options on how they want the story to go. Which I thought made sense, cause it's Undertale, and also cause while I may not have a firm idea of what Chara is, I do have a pretty set idea that Chara is you, and Chara is me, and Chara is everyone...but Chara is also Chara.

Looks like "CYOA" is another thing I can check off the "never done that before" list.

* * *

 **Other things to address up front**  
First, major spoiler warning: This story spoils a few of the big plot points of Undertale's story. Don't read this unless you've played (or watched, or have at least read about) the game all the way through, and the more you know about the three main routes, the better.

Chara is male in this story. As far as I'm concerned it's no more right or wrong than any others, so you don't have to debate Chara's gender with me because odds are, however you want to think of Chara, I probably already agree.

If you're still reading, you probably have a good idea of what this story involves: Kids doing terrible things to themselves and each other. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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Everyone's had bad dreams. Everyone's had nightmares. But dreams that start out good, then slowly but surely become nightmares...those bring a special kind of fear, the kind that gets to you before you even know it. That was where Asriel, Prince of the Monsters - but, please, just call him Asriel, he was still just a kid learning how to be a prince in the first place - found himself: In a bad dream and he couldn't wake up.

He was even in bed during this new low point, just not asleep. Not like he could have slept, and oh did he want to.

The young boss monster was turned away from his brother's bed, facing the wall as he stared into space. Maybe an hour ago, he heard Mom and Dad tiptoe into their room to check on them, and he, like his brother, faked sleep. After they left and went to their room, there was silence, other than the faint sound of Chara's slightly-harder-than-usual breathing.

Asriel wasn't really left alone with his thoughts, not with Chara, the one they centered on, just on on the other side of the room. Asriel's thoughts wouldn't leave him alone, either.

How did this even happen, when his brother wanted to die?

First by his own hand...

Now by Asriel's hand?

Ever since Mom took them to Waterfall to learn about monster history after the monsters were imprisoned, nothing had been the same. Not that Chara didn't surprise him before - that was one of the things he liked about Chara, he made life more fun that way - but Asriel expected his brother to enjoy the field trip.

"A field trip?" Chara had asked. "There are fields here?"

"Haha, field trips are one of the best things about school!" Asriel had replied cheerfully, wanting to take his own turn to surprise him with something fun.

But, again, Chara was the one who surprised him. The more Mom told them about the plaques on the cave walls, about the nature of monster and human souls, about the war, and about the Delta Rune, the more uncomfortable Asriel was and the more interested Chara was. War, killing, stealing souls...it was all so terrible, to think that this happened and Mom and Dad were there to see all of it.

Chara, on the other hand, hung onto Mom's every word, and even after they went home, he looked so distracted all the time. At first, Asriel thought it had disturbed him so much that he couldn't think about anything else. After all, he told Asriel a secret once: The reason he came to the mountain in the first place was because he hated humanity, even if he never explained why. Hearing about things like this must have brought back some really bad memories, so Asriel did his best to cheer him up. Nothing doing, and as time went on, Asriel noticed he wasn't acting sad. No, he had this air of...optimism.

Then Asriel found out why, when Chara told him he knew how to set everyone free.

That was only a few days ago, but even in such a short time, life had become a bad dream that kept getting worse. The worry on Mom and Dad's faces when Chara got "sick" hurt him so badly he could have gotten sick too, for real in his case, when he couldn't tell them what was wrong. Watching his brother waste away while he kept up the act and promised him he'd get better soon when he knew that, no, Chara wouldn't ever get better and wasn't supposed to get better made him feel like he could throw up until he bled, like Chara had.

He knew in his heart that this was wrong and he wanted to stop, but he only worked up the courage to tell Chara once. He instantly took it back when his brother glared him back into place. Chara told Asriel that people were afraid of his red eyes, but Asriel always thought they were pretty, as they reminded him of Mom and Dad's eyes. Not anymore. Now Asriel could see something in them he didn't before, and he had a feeling what he saw was worse than anything the humans thought they had seen.

But things hadn't gone as planned. Chara's plan included his death, but the thing was, he had this endless drive to survive. He said that sometimes back in the human world, that was all he had to keep him going, a will to live. That wasn't something he could just turn off; it was a part of him. The combination of his incredibly determined spirit and Mom and Dad's magic kept him from slipping away. He was weak and would need much time to recover, but he would live.

At first, Asriel was relieved that Chara might make it after all, and that maybe he could get another chance to talk him out of it. But Chara always tried harder after failing, something Asriel admired him for, unlike him who just tried not to feel bad when he failed.

"Today, go help Father with the gardening," he told the young monster. "Put the tools away when you're done. But when you do, I want you to hide something and sneak it back here."

That brought them to now.

"Asriel."

He shivered as Chara whispered his name. "I-I'm here," he whispered back, still staring at the wall.

"It's time."

He felt tears threatening to form already. He buried his face in the pillow. No, he couldn't cry, it was time to show Chara he was strong.

"Get it."

His shivers turned to trembles as he slid the covers down and got out of bed. He reached under the mattress and lifted it up with a soft grunt. Despite the darkness of the room, the light shining from under the door glinted off the hidden object almost too well. What did Chara want him to bring back? An old gardening tool that Chara liked using when they tended to the flowers with Dad.

"If I did it myself, everyone would know. We're going to use it for what it was meant for," he had said earlier, and when Asriel understood what he meant, the hope that this didn't have to happen died a little more.

As he reached for the hilt, his fingers brushed the side of the blade, and it felt cold in a way that had nothing to do with temperature. Gripping the weapon, he turned to Chara's bed, looking down at the floor out of fear and then, for the same reason, away from the dagger he now held.

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The silence was filled by Chara's next command, "Now, come here."

He shuffled over to the human's bed, repeating his mental order of, "Don't cry," to himself over and over. Still trembling, he raised his free hand when he reached Chara's bedside; he didn't need Chara mad at him. Before he had to be, anyway.

Chara rolled over to lie on his back, whispering, "Go ahead."

It took a bit before Asriel could focus enough to obey him, but after an instinctive tug of magical energy, red light suddenly shone in the dark room.

He'd only seen Chara's soul a couple of times before, when Mom and Dad explained how human and monster souls worked, about how strong human souls were compared to monster souls, about...well, it didn't matter what all they said, because now, Asriel had been given a new way to look at Chara's soul: As its killer, by Chara's own plan.

Seeing it before him, with his brother on his back while he stood beside him with a weapon in hand...he couldn't even repeat his "don't cry" thoughts anymore.

Chara, on the other hand, looked completely relaxed. Not tired or sick, like he had been, but at peace...happy, even, with the smile now on his face. "You know what to do," he said.

Yes he did. The challenge was doing it.

"I...C-Chara..." he managed to get out.

"Asriel, we talked about this. We can't turn back. This is best for both of us."

This was his last chance to tell Chara what he really wanted to do, but this was the most scared he'd ever been. He thought back on something Dad told him once: "Being brave isn't about being fearless. It's about doing the right thing even though you're scared." That's right, he had to stop both of them from making a big mistake.

"No."

Chara's smile faded a little.

"No, this isn't right, and we can turn back. We have to turn back."

"You said you'd never doubt me. You said you'd help," he murmured, a bit of accusation in his voice as his smile disappeared.

Asriel's free hand went to his own chest as his breathing deepened. "I-I do believe in you. We," sniff, "we'll find a way to free everyone. But this isn't what I wanted, for you to disappear...and I don't think it's really what you want, either."

Even though Chara's expression didn't change, Asriel was seeing that...that whatever it was in his eyes again. Maybe even moreso now, with the light of his soul shining between them. After seeing for himself how Chara dealt with failure, he knew how hard this was going to be.

"And I am helping you. By stopping you from doing something you can't take back, that'll hurt you and me and everyone else," he continued, forcing himself to keep looking Chara in the eye.

"Don't make it like this, Asriel," he warned.

Gulp. "That's...that's what I want to say to you, Chara," he insisted...or that he tried to insist, however insistent his choked-up voice really was. "Whether we can be free or we stay here, as long as I'm with someone I love, I can be happy, and you're my brother and I love you too. I don't want to live in a world without you, and Mom and Dad don't, either." His jaw clenched as he tried to keep talking without crying, "I still don't know if you know that...but I'll keep showing you until you believe it."

Chara was silent, just staring Asriel down, so the monster leaned down to set the dagger on the floor.

"I promise, someday we'll set everyone free if that would make you happy. But before then...before then, I promise there's so many other ways to be happy, and I'll show you every one of them if I have to." He reached up to wipe his eyes as he felt himself losing the battle against his tears. "So...please...let's just forget about this and stop thinking you have to die."

"Asriel," Chara said in a softer voice than the monster expected, "you've got it all wrong."

Sniff. "What, what do I have wrong?" he asked, lowering his arm. "You want me to...k-kill you and take your s-s-soul."

"Don't you see what I'm really doing?" He smiled at him again. "I'm not losing everything and you're not taking everything. I'm giving you everything. So you can free everyone. So you can protect everyone."

"But," he said, "it shouldn't have to be like this. The prophecy talks about 'the one who's seen the surface.' It doesn't say whoever that is has to die, and if 'the Underground will be left empty,' I want it only to be because we brought everyone with us, not because there's just fewer people who could leave."

Chara shook his head. "You're not thinking ahead, Asriel. Let's say that someday, we destroy the barrier and everyone can just walk out of here. Don't you remember why we're here in the first place?"

The monster nodded slightly. "Because...humans were scared of us. Of what we could do if we wanted," he admitted.

"That's right. When we walk out of this mountain, what we see isn't going to be a welcoming party." Chara gave his brother a sad look. "I've seen for myself: Humans don't like to feel threatened. If they decide something's a threat to them, they'll come together to destroy it. Not just monsters, you know, but ordinary animals or anything else that's 'scary.' Even each other."

Asriel didn't like to think about it, hoping there could be other humans like his brother and Chara was just never lucky enough to meet them, but it wasn't the first time he'd considered that could happen. Of course, he was a total scaredygoat, so he figured it was just him. "And...that's why you want me to...be strong? So I can protect them?" he guessed.

"That's right. I've never met anyone as kind as you. That's why you're the only one I can trust with that much power. You need to be strong for me now, and for everyone else later." He looked at his soul as he went on, "You won't have anything be sorry to me for: Now we'll be inseparable forever. So don't just do this for me. Do it for them, too."

He took a little while to think about that. Chara had a good point, whether Asriel liked it or not. What would they do after they got out? What if humans hadn't gotten better since the monsters were imprisoned down here? If they couldn't fight back, the monsters wouldn't have much to hope for. It wasn't like he'd have to kill anyone, but he could sure stop anyone from killing them.

But that made him think of a different point. Chara was right: This wasn't just about them, was it?

"What about...everyone else?" he asked.

"...I just told you, you have to look out for-"

"No," he interrupted with a shake of his head, "not like that. I mean, what about what they think? What they want?" He looked at the wall behind him, in the direction of their parents' room. "I told you, me and Mom and Dad don't want to live in a world without you. We're not the only ones who feel that way."

Chara sighed quietly. "You can't mean the other monsters," he guessed, sounding like he already knew, and didn't believe, the answer.

"That's exactly it, and why can't I mean that?" he asked, looking back at Chara. "You know what it's like in the human world today better than anyone. Now let me tell you what it was like here before you came here."

He didn't like talking about this to Chara, always trying to focus on the happier present than the unhappy past, and it quickly became clear to him that Chara's past was much unhappier than he would ever know, so he kept up that habit all this time. Mom and Dad, too, never asked Chara about what kinds of things he did before he came here, introducing new things by asking him if he liked them and explaining what they were if he hadn't heard of them. Time to tell him why the Underground was better with him in it.

"We've all been down here for...a very long time. There are only a few monsters who can even remember what the surface was like. If the grown-ups decided to just give up on teaching their kids about the surface and how we got here, and told them that there is no outside...it wouldn't take long before everyone just believed we'd always been here. Monsters just kind of...didn't really think about leaving." He looked up at the ceiling, imagining he and Chara were looking up at a starry sky...a real sky, not the roof of a cave. "Starting the day you came, everything changed."

The human was silent again, staring expectantly at Asriel.

For the first time tonight, Asriel was able to smile. "I was a little scared when I found you. I mean...you're not scared of anything, and we know I'm not brave like you. But Mom and Dad told me that they'd met lots of humans who weren't afraid of monsters. Who were friends with monsters, even...before...the bad times. So I thought, maybe if I showed you we didn't want to hurt you, you and me could be friends, and you know what? I was right. We're not just friends; we're brothers."

Chara asked, "What does that have to do with all the other monsters?"

"They feel the same way. When you came here and stayed with my family, it gave everyone hope that monsters and humans could have a future again. That if there were humans like you, somehow, we could be free and live in peace with the humans." He smiled a bit wider as he continued, "Or at least, hope that there was something to look forward to, instead of just...existing."

"And...you think staying here with one human is better than setting everyone free?" he asked, that accusing tone back in his voice.

"What I know is the same thing we've always known: That we want you to stay with us."

Chara looked away, his intense but steady expression softening. Asriel reached for him, thinking that maybe he got through to him after all, but stopped when Chara spoke up, "I didn't want to tell you this, Asriel...but the hard truth is...I'm just the key to their freedom."

"How...how can you say that?" Asriel asked, always ready to stop Chara from being so hard on himself.

"You know, for someone who cares about everyone, you really don't understand anyone," Chara said dismissively. "You always have an idea of how you want things to be, but you can't see things the way they are. Asriel, do you like being stuck down here?"

He nodded firmly. "I told you, I don't care where I am, I care about who I'm with."

Chara sighed. "This place is all you've ever known. But how do you feel when I say that unless you do something, this place, this cave, this prison is all there's ever going to be?"

He nodded...less firmly. "How can I miss something I've never had?"

"You didn't have me for a long time. Would you rather I'd never come here?" he asked.

"Of course not!" he said with renewed confidence before Chara's point dawned on him. "Oh..."

"Yeah. Honestly, Asriel, I'd rather be here than on the surface. It still has why I climbed the mountain: No humans." He huffed quietly, scowling at his soul. "Except me. You, though...everyone else has another reason to be glad I came here: Because I'm here to set them free."

"That's not how we look at you. You're not just some key to a lock. You're a person, not a thing," he said.

His eyebrows lowered more. "I get that you saved me because you wanted to be friends. But do you think everyone would've been so nice? Everyone else who has enough friends? I wasn't in any shape to stop you if you wanted to use me to make the prophecy come true."

What was with Chara and wanting to die? "I couldn't-"

" **Yes you could** ," Chara snapped, making Asriel take a step back. "All you ever had to do was decide it's what you were going to do and then do it. I don't know why or how Mother and Father raised you to not hate humans after what we did to them, and I guess I never will, but you can bet the reason everyone else gave me a chance is because I was living with the King and Queen."

"No...no, I don't believe that. They wouldn't have just...k-killed you like that..."

"Let me tell you something I learned from my time on the surface. Everyone, no matter how nice, can be a killer. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard, but all it really takes is the will to try," he held up his hands to frame his soul between them, "and it doesn't get much better than this."

He looked at his feet, shivering in place as his gaze drifted to the dagger right next to him. "But...but..." he stammered.

"And if they wouldn't kill me for that, they'd kill me out of fear. You heard what Mother said, about how the monsters didn't have a chance against humans who wanted them dead. Now they have one human, alone, and a child. They just need one soul to cross the barrier and get all the souls they'd need...before I could even have a chance to fight back," he said.

Asriel's mind raced for anything to say, and when he didn't come up with something, Chara had an idea.

"Asriel. Look at me and tell me you aren't scared of me too," he demanded.

He couldn't do either.

"That's what I thought. So now do you understand, Asriel? Now do you see that this is what's best for everyone?" Chara asked.

No. He just couldn't think of any argument that Chara would believe; "I just don't want to" was all he had, and it wasn't going to work. When he didn't say anything, Chara shuffled closer to the edge of the bed, then reached down and picked up the dagger himself.

"I'm not turning back, and I'm not gonna tell you again." Despite his voice dropping back to a whisper, it cut Asriel in a way a blade never could. He took Asriel's hand in one of his, then placed the hilt of the dagger in his palm and closed his fingers around it. "Finish me off this way," he clenched his fingers tighter, "or I'll have to do it my way." He slowly released Asriel's hand and lay back on the bed, staring at the monster.

It felt like all the strength had left Asriel's body, so much so that he could barely keep holding onto the weapon. Really, what he wanted to do most was drop the dagger and run screaming to their parents. But Chara's last words hurt him more than anything else Chara had ever said. It reminded him of the first part of their plan, when Chara was dying of self-poisoning, only if he did what he said now...it made the color red, splashed everywhere, fill his thoughts.

If that happened and everyone knew why...it would devastate them. Doing it the way they planned, it was awful to lie about it, but if this was going to happen either way, if he really didn't have a choice...whoever did it, it was going to hurt everyone, but one of those choices would let them believe something like, "Our little angel was taken from us by some terrible twist of fate," instead of, "Our little angel took his own life. How could we have failed him so much?"

Time to be what Chara wanted him to be: Everyone's savior.

He gave a slow nod as he gripped the dagger with both hands. "Okay."

Chara's eyes widened and his smile returned.

"I'll...I'll do it," he stammered, looking down at the floor again and turning the dagger upside-down. Taking deep breaths, he raised his arms over his head. He kept that pose for a few seconds before taking one last breath and holding it as he finished winding up his swing.

"I knew you had it in you," Chara said calmly.

He thrust the dagger down. As he planned, he missed Chara.

What surprised him, and left him crying openly now, was that he was getting so scared and desperate to end this without hurting his brother, it had crossed his mind that if he showed Chara just how hurt he was, if he turned the weapon on himself, he could shock Chara back to his senses...and the thought had gripped him so tightly that he was actually about to try it. He couldn't open his eyes, and he didn't have to to know how close he was before he snapped out of it, with the tip of the blade poking his stomach. Dulled edge or not, his intent to do harm right that moment had been so strong that just another split second was all it would have taken.

"N-N-No," he blubbered before sinking to his knees and letting the dagger go. "This...this is wrong. It's evil!" he cried, burying his face in the blankets.

"'Good,' 'evil,'" Chara said mockingly. "I. Don't. Care. Everyone else cares about good and evil, you most of all, but I don't care now and it doesn't look like I'm going to. I just know what I want. Look at what you were just doing."

He grit his teeth as another wave of tears spilled from his eyes into the blankets. "I wanted," sniff, "I w-wanted...to show you what you were doing," sniiiff, "and how much it hurts!"

"You were ready to hurt yourself to get what you wanted. Just like me."

"But you don't care that...that what you do doesn't just hurt yourself!"

"If you'd gone through with what you wanted to do, the result would be the same whether you cared or not."

Asriel didn't have an argument for that. Not one that he could put into words, anyway. He was past the point where he could talk anymore, and he only had one more idea for how to stop Chara from doing this. He couldn't do it with words and he couldn't do it with actions. So there was only one thing to do.

Nothing. He just wouldn't do anything, no matter what Chara threatened, until Chara got the message that he wasn't going through with this plan anymore.

The room was near silent for a while, with the monster's sniffling the only sound: No more pleas from Asriel, no more threats or orders from Chara. Asriel didn't even know how much this was working, if Chara was waiting for him to break or if-

"Even when it's to save me," Chara interrupted his thoughts, "or to save yourself, you won't hurt anyone." He didn't sound mad at all, more like he was just seeing if he was right.

"Mm mm," Asriel mumbled, shaking his head. Another, shorter silence followed before Asriel spoke again, "I can't...stop every bad thing from happening. Nobody can. B-But...I'm not...I won't let you do this." He mentally begged Chara to give him a sign that he'd finally gotten him to listen.

"I understand."

The monster's eyes popped open. "W-Wh...what?" he squeaked.

"I understand you won't do it," he said flatly.

He straightened up enough to look at Chara again, wide-eyed and barely breathing from surprise. "You...r-really?"

"Yes," he answered, staring up at the ceiling.

At last, Asriel started to smile again. "And...you...won't do it to yourself?" he asked hopefully as he stood up.

"No."

He smiled wider, now crying with relief. "Oh, thank you, thank you!"

"And I'll never ask you to help me again, either," Chara added.

Now Asriel didn't just smile; he laughed, just a little, as he raised a hand to direct Chara's soul back into his body. "I promise, I'll help you be the hap- ah, wha- mmph!"

Asriel never got to finish anything he was going to say as, in one swift move, Chara grabbed his wrist, pulled him onto the bed, and crammed a balled-up sock in his open mouth and held his jaw shut around it.

He tried to beg for Chara to let him go, but it came out as only an incomprehensible mumble. He tried to struggle free, but his brother's other arm wrapped around him and held his arms at his sides. He didn't know where Chara, who was resting from lethal poisoning, was getting this kind of strength, but it was no use.

...No. He knew where this strength was coming from. It was something he'd known for some time: Failure just made Chara try harder, and with what he wanted most within his reach, he was ready to do whatever it took to get it, whether that was "possible" or not.

Even his mumbles were soon turned into muffled, gagging coughs from the sock tickling the back of his mouth, fear starting to turn to panic as Chara inched them backwards to the edge of the bed.

"Didn't you hear me?" he asked as calmly as before. "I'm not asking you for help again."

"Stah ih!" he managed to get out, as close to "Stop it!" as he could plead.

"I wanted you to make your choice. Everything's easier when you want to do what you're doing. Now I know what I have to do." Once they reached the edge, Chara let go of Asriel's face long enough to reach down to the floor.

Asriel tried to spit out the makeshift gag, but before he could, Chara's other arm went from holding his arms at his sides to keeping his mouth shut. He reached up to pull Chara's arm away, but the human just clamped his fingers down harder, bringing tears to his eyes once again from the pain.

Then a red sheen caught his eye as Chara turned them to lie on their backs. The monster shook his head, trying - and failing - again to beg Chara to stop when he realized what he was looking at. Chara was now holding the dagger and had its point facing his soul.

"Your compassion is in my way..."

Almost in full panic, Asriel forgot about trying to cry for help and about how humans couldn't harm souls directly, and reached to stop Chara. If he could grab his arm, or even grab the dagger and throw it away even if he had to grab it by the blade, maybe he could stop this.

Again, Chara proved faster and stronger. As if he expected Asriel to do that, he let go of the monster's mouth and took hold of one of his open hands, slapped the dagger's handle in it, and closed his hands around Asriel's, forcing him to be the one holding the weapon.

"But we are doing this whether you want to or not."

Now Asriel's hand wasn't just being squeezed: He could physically and magically feel how much Chara wanted this. Just being touched by him hurt...no, BURNED, and try as he might, he couldn't stop the steady descent of the dagger's point towards the soul above them, nor could his screams be loud enough for Mom or Dad to have a chance to hear them. Sobbing that he let it get this far and he failed to save his brother, Asriel shut his eyes just before the point hit its mark.

Even then, he couldn't shut out the red glow of Chara's soul. Then the glow flickered, and no matter how hard he shut his eyes, there was really nothing he could do to look away from the harm he was causing. Just when he thought this couldn't be worse, during the moments when the soul's light was shining, it was even brighter than before, as if to show him that even when Chara was dying, his soul glowed all the more from the excitement.

The light glowed brighter. It went out. It flickered back. It went out again. It flickered back again.

"Ha ha ha...ha..."

It died. Chara went limp. So did Asriel, for a different reason.

He was out of tears by now. He just shook with dry sobs as he mumbled, "Kurruh?"

No answer. No movement. No breathing.

He finally spat the sock out and repeated, "Chara? Please...wake up..."

Nothing.

So...he really did it. He really gave Chara what he wanted. He really helped him take his own life.

He felt numb all over, inside and out. He just lay there, unable to move, not even to open his eyes. He couldn't even think, not in words, pictures or feelings. Finally, he turned over, letting the dagger drop to the floor, and buried his face in the pillow, his cheek against Chara's and his arms wrapping around him, as if he thought he could somehow stop Chara from slipping away if he held on tightly enough.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't save you. I'm sorry I didn't get through to you. I'm sorry I..." he hiccuped, "I let you down."

All Asriel wanted was some sign that he had been heard, but nothing came from his brother, and he knew that now, nothing ever would. Chara was gone, and he was never coming back.

Wait. No, he was dead, but he wasn't gone...and there was still one thing Asriel knew he could do. He could accept what Chara had just given him. He could set everyone free, like Chara wanted. He could keep everyone safe, like Chara wanted. Most importantly, he could make sure they would be together forever.

Nuzzling Chara's cheek, he said softly, "I-It's okay, Chara. I'll...I'll be strong, like we promised."

He pulled back and finally opened his eyes. The room was still dark, save for the light from under the door, but he could make out just enough of his face to see his eyes were still open. It sent such a chill down his spine that he could barely remind himself to be brave. He reached up and gently lowered Chara's eyelids for him, smiling as if his brother was still alive and he could comfort him.

"No more crying, right?" Sniff. "Big kids don't cry."

Having said that, he felt ready to face what he'd done. He turned around and froze halfway at the sight. Nobody knew what happened when a monster killed a human since it had never been done, and just the thought scared him so much that he never really considered it. Now he had his answer.

Floating above them was the remains of Chara's soul. It had broken into pieces that drifted back and forth from each other, as if despite being shattered, each piece had some kind of pull on the other pieces, or as if even when dead, a human soul wanted to be whole. They gave off no light, but he could just make out a red tint to them.

All he could do was take it in. His brother's soul was dead and broken before him, and his body was still and silent behind him. Now he knew he was wrong. He wasn't strong like Chara wanted, or like anybody wanted. When it came down to it, he was still just a crybaby.

And he might as well embrace - in more ways than one - what else he really was: A monster.

Sitting upright, he reached up to Chara's soul, linking his hands behind it so he could move all the fragments at once, and pulled it towards his chest. Yeah...just go ahead and embrace it. Just let it in.

Chara's soul disappeared into him. His vision faded to white...then went dark.

Asriel's eyes opened, and he straightened up from the slump he'd fallen into. His hands raised and he looked back and forth between them. Only, he didn't think about doing any of that.

"What...?"

Just a moment ago, or at least it felt like a moment, he could barely move. Now...he felt...he couldn't describe it. He'd never felt so strong. His magic...before, it was hard to muster up a single bullet, but now he felt like he could leave Mom and Father in awe of his power, and he wanted to try-

Wait, where was this coming from? How could he think about that when his own body was right behind them?

Wait again, "his own body?"

It was then the feeling that he wasn't alone hit Asriel, and he looked around the shadowy room. There was nothing to see or hear, but there was an undeniable other presence. It was all around him, but it was nowhere. Gulping, he mouthed, "Is that...?"

 **"It's me,"** a very familiar voice answered, in his head.

"But...you're...dead..."

 **"But I'm not gone."**

Asriel sat still for a minute, then asked, "Are you really here, with me?"

His mouth moved on its own as "he" answered, "Yes."

"But how are-"

"It doesn't matter. What matters is you know what we have to do now."

He couldn't muster the willpower to get up, so Chara must have taken initiative again as their body got out of bed.

"First, we have to get rid of this."

They picked up the dagger and softly walked out of the room, keeping a lookout for anyone who might see them as they sneaked through their home and through the long passage to the throne room, where the gardening tools for the room's many flowers were kept. Once the dagger was back in its proper place, they made their way back to their room. Through it all, Asriel just watched as their body was controlled for him like a puppet.

As they stood in front of Chara's bed and looked down at his body, they paused, as if Chara wanted to see if Asriel would take the next step on his own. When he didn't, Chara said, "It's all right. I'll do it for you," as they reached down and picked up his body.

Asriel was kind of glad for that. Having to carry his brother's remains had been a terrible enough thought already, and he was still a little...blank from this new twist.

As they stepped into the hallway, though, he asked, "Chara?" nearly dropping the body when he took control again.

 **"Yes?"**

"Just...there's one thing I need to see." They turned to walk further down the hall.

 **"We don't have time to tell Father and Mother. We can tell them later,"** Chara warned him.

"I'm not. It's something else," he explained.

They kept going past the other rooms to the large mirror at the end of the hall. This was where the family looked at themselves together before they all went out, and Asriel needed to take a hard look at himself and what he'd become.

Once he could see their reflection, they turned to face it. There he was, the Prince of the Monsters, still in his pajamas, cradling his brother's dead body, his brother who'd been slain by his hand thanks to his weakness. So it finally happened: What the humans were afraid of was now real, and it was him.

"It's...me," he murmured, feeling weak at the sight of himself.

 **"It's us,"** Chara corrected.

Their arms started going slack, and again, they almost dropped Chara's body before Chara took over again. Their gaze was still on their reflection long enough to see their eyes turn the same shade of red as Chara's, and their expression changed from heartbroken to determined.

"I still understand you aren't ready," Chara told their reflection, "but you did good, Asriel."

They turned back down the hall and started walking.

"Now, come on."

 **"..."**

"We have a job to do."

* * *

 **A/N Continued**  
The idea of Asriel not turning into his God of Hyperdeath form came from a picture by Luxjii (which I don't know if I can link here, but go to e621 and search for "luxjii asriel_dreemurr" and you'll probably find it). I get why he's drawn in his final boss form in most art from this point in his backstory, but it just seems to me that he'd only do that when he absorbs enough souls to become all-powerful.

Undertale (c) Toby Fox.  
Thanks to FlyingWolf for getting me that game and for being my main test audience.  
Thumbnail by Dash aka kirbygod on DA and was commissioned for this story by me and is used with permission.

This story's copyright policy: "Sharing is caring." Do what you like with this story, not like I can do anything to stop you, in fact I'd be flattered you'd want to share it or save it so you can read it whenever you want. All I ask is that you link back to the original source.


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